Mercy
by RandyPandy
Summary: After losing their mother to Irregulars, Girouette was not the first person run into by the twins Vent and Aile. -pre-ZX-


Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman / Megaman or any of the characters in this fic. I'm just toying with an idea that wouldn't leave my mind.

* * *

Smoke. Fire. It was everywhere.

The bright, green and purple, colorful carnival attractions that had caused Vent and Aile to pester their mother to take them seemed more like a dream than anything else. Not with the red and orange hues of the fire, the thick gray smoke, and the ash-darkened hues of the Irregulars that were running around.

Aile clung tightly to her brother's hand as the pair of four-year-olds ran darted through the broken attractions and the smoke, coughing. The pair of children had been separated from their mother, and were now searching for her.

"Mom!" Vent would call every once in awhile.

"Mama! Where are you?" Aile would cry.

Eventually, Vent stopped running, Aile panting beside him, as she brushed hair out of her eyes so that she could see. "Mama... where's mama...?" She choked out.

"Vent... Aile..." At the familiar voice, the two children started running in that direction, tiredness forgotten. What they saw made them freeze. Their mother was sitting there, appearing to have a broken ankle, her blond hair dirtied by the debris and ash. Surrounding her were several purple-armored Irregulars... all with their Buster pointing at her.

"M-Mom..." Vent choked out. No. No. He didn't quite understand death yet at his age, but he, and Aile, both knew that people that met Irregulars often stopped moving, and never got up again.

"Vent... Aile... run..." She whispered, staring straight at them. "Don't let them..."

The Irregulars fired.

"MOM!"

"MAMA!"

* * *

Miraculously, their screams had not alerted the Irregulars to their presence. Regardless, the two children were unable to stare at their mother's body and just turned and ran. Vent found an abandoned restroom, so he pulled Aile and slipped inside. It seemed relatively safe compared to the carnage going on outside.

"Vent..." Aile whimpered, dropping down on the floor. "Vent... Mama... she's gone, isn't she...?" And she began crying. At any other time, Vent would've said that it was just like a girl to begin crying about everything. But not this time. He felt like crying himself, but he knew he had to be strong. For him, and his twin.

"Aile..." He crawled over and hugged her tightly. "I-It... it will be okay..." The words were empty, and Aile knew it. Regardless, the girl managed to bury her face against Vent's chest, going silent.

The twins were unaware of how long they sat there. Aile woke up at one point, having dozed off at one point and used Vent's chest as a pillow. She blinked around sleepily, even as Vent stirred underneath her.

"It's quiet..." She said, climbing off of him, opening the door of the restroom and poking her head out. The red colors of the fire were gone, though there still some smoke and ash around. "..." The reality of her situation hit her. "V-Vent... mama is gone... and... and she said we never had a dad..."

The boy appeared behind her, glancing around. "I... I don't know what we'll do." The question was there. Now that their mother was gone and they never had a father that they know of, what will happen to them? What will happen to children that had no one to stay with? He'd heard stories from Innerpeace about children that were separated from each other and given to new parents. The thought made him grip Aile's hand tighter. She was all he had. He wasn't going to lose her.

The pair of twins walked through the debris, often having to find different paths around it if they couldn't find a path through it, or climb over it. They walked, and walked, and walked, all around the former amusement park, trying to find another living person.

"...!" Aile tugged on Vent's sleeve, pointing. Vent squinted his eyes, and off in the distance, he could see a pair of figures standing in the middle of the park. "Somebody... somebody's there..." Though they didn't know what would happen, adults meant that they would be taken away from the scary place, and hopefully be okay.

The siblings quickly ran towards the figures, looking excited, until... until they saw the armor on the pair. Oh no. Oh no no no. The only people that wore armor they knew of were Irregulars. These two had to be Irregulars. The taller one had long, blue hair, and a purple and white and red armor, while the other one was thinner with much shorter green hair, and white and light blue armor.

Aile was unable to stop herself from letting out a whimper at the pair, which caused the two to stop whatever they were doing and turn around. The pair of children were spotted almost instantly. Upon seeing their faces however... Vent and Aile had to see they looked more humanoid than Irregular.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the purple Irregular, who looked like a male, said. "A pair of kids?"

Vent and Aile just clung to each other.

"They're just little ones... we can't hurt them."

"We were told to remove any survivors of this raid. It might be more merciful for them, in the long run. Then they won't get involved." His red eyes scanned the kids over, as if studying them.

The female Irregular, the white one, softened her gaze and knelt down. "Come here... you two. It's alright."

"A-Are you Irregulars?" Vent asked them. The two Irregulars blinked, seemed thoughtful for a moment, and nodded, though it seemed a bit reluctant. Vent and Aile gulped.

"M-Mr. Irregular... Ms. Irregular... why... why are you here..."

"Don't call us that. Use our names." The man said. The woman shot him a look, and stood back up, not seeming upset that the kids were not approaching her. "Our names are... he is my brother Prometheus and... I am Pandora.."

"Pr-Pro-my... Pan-Pandy..." Aile stumbled over the names. Pandora just nodded to them, shifting her staff and holding out her unoccupied hand towards the kids. Aile looked at Vent and tugged his hand, slowly walking over to the Irregulars.

"If you don't want to hurt them, what should we do with them, then?" Prometheus crossed his arms, watching his sister pat the two humanoid kids on the heads. "Taking them back to Albert would be worse then death." He studied his sister's expression thoughtfully. "...Please don't tell me you want them."

Pandora was quiet. The two kids clung to Pandora, looking up at the two of them.

"Prometheus... I..." She seemed to be stumbling over her words more than usual. "If we leave them... they'll get caught up in the 'Game'."

"Game?" Vent asked. That appeared to be all he had heard. "What game, Ms. Pandy?"

Aile was silent.

"..." Prometheus looked down at the kids, studying them again. "A bad game, kiddies." He turned back to Pandora. "And how do you propose we take care of them? How can we explain to these kids who will probably get curious as to where we keep disappearing to every week or so?"

"If... if they were supposed to be players... they can help us..." She seemed to be grasping straws. Prometheus knew it was because she was desperate for contact with other living beings instead of just slaughtering them, and... he understood. He was slowly becoming fond of these two kids themselves. If she wanted to keep them, then he wouldn't stop her.

"Hey, kids. What're your names?" Prometheus suddenly asked, looking at the pair.

"Vent," The boy whispered.

"Aile," the girl replied.

"Mother?" He asked. Aile immediately teared up while Vent choked out the response.

"Mom was here, and... she's gone..."

"Father?" This time, it was Aile that gave him the reply.

"We never knew him..." He took in the kids' appearances again, noting that they already had mechanical parts at this age, and yet seemed comfortable with them, the dark brown hair, the vibrant pair of green eyes, the blue outfits... He put a hand to his mouth, appearing thoughtful.

"Alright Pandora," he said finally, causing his sister to look at him in surprise. "If you want to keep them, I won't stop you. I'll help you. I'm a bit fond of the boy myself, and I know how you are with girls. Just realize that these kids may or may not have a better life with us than they would've being with another person here. But seriously, hurry. The Guardians will find us if we don't."

* * *

A blond-haired figure in a red shirt was scoping out the destroyed amusement park with a frown in his eyes. He adjusted his classes. Girouette, leader of the transportation service called "Girouette Express" and part-time Guardian, had been the closest Guardian so he had been sent to rescue any survivors that he could find.

"This place is a mess... will I really find any survivors, here...?" He sighed, stopping near a restroom, before heading towards the middle of the amusement park to give it one last look around.

In one universe, Girouette found a pair of children, both clinging to each other and looking very confused as to what had just happened.

In another, Girouette found a young boy who seemed to look a little lost, as if something very precious had been taken from him.

In yet another, Girouette found a young girl, who looked puzzled at why she was there in the first place, unharmed.

In the last, Girouette did not find anybody. With a look of disappointment, he reported that to the Guardian Base.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Okay, I left the ending pretty open in case I want to do a sequel. I haven't completely figured out how Prometheus and Pandora would raise four-year-olds without Albert finding out. In the first universe, Giro raised Vent and Aile together, which is what most fanfics portray and the one that's believed to be the accepted timeline. The second one is Vent and Ashe's timeline, and the third one is Aile and Grey's timeline. In the fourth one, Giro had no reason to go to Area D before the Guardians and Slither Inc's forces got there, so he didn't die like he did in the other three timelines.

As for what happens to the Vent and/or Aile that were raised by Prometheus and Pandora after the events of ZXA... well, can't spoil everything, now can I? Considering that one of the timelines mention in this takes place before the ZX fic that I'm writing?


End file.
